William Hill Completes Sportingbet Acquisition

William Hill Online is the leasing online betting and gaming business in the UK and one of the overall largest online gaming operators in all of Europe. Providing sports betting, Casino, Poker, Bingo and more, William Hill already serves a large population and has just expanded to bring its offering further.

William Hill PLC has just completed the acquisition of Sportingbet's Australian business. It has also been granted a call option over Sportingbet's locally licensed Spanish business. The total cash consideration was £459.4 million.

While the deal was in the works for a while, SportingBet shareholders gave their final stamp of approval just last month and the deal was finalized shortly thereafter.

This is big news for William Hill growth, as Australia is one of the largest licensed betting markets in the world where, up until now, William Hill has not had a footprint. However, William Hill has expertise in certain areas of the Australian market that are demonstrating strong structural growth such as online, mobile, fixed-odds betting and sportsbetting, making this a natural and positive expansion.

The acquisition was made as part of a recommended offer for Sportingbet by William Hill and GVC Holdings plc and is in line with the Group's overall strategy to develop online business, increase exposure to attractive markets by taking local licenses, and geographically diversify its revenues.

Across William Hill shops, online and mobile, more than 440 million bets are placed each year, about three quarters of which are placed in the 2,370 U.K. shops. If you aren't a part of the William Hill success, this may be an ideal time to get on board!